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Readers, new friends, everyone… Thank you so much for your continued support.

Firstly, is there anything you would like to see from this blog? A change in some kind of format to navigate the site more easily? I’ve been trying with this updated About page. It has a list of all the posts and brief descriptions. Or you can read Why I Chose to Speak Out for a more detailed introduction, though it doesn’t contain all the posts.

An archive won’t really do as it hasn’t been a month yet so if you click on ‘June’ you just get the whole blog. Oops.

Secondly, I apologise for all the tears as some of this stuff (okay, most) is really heavy. I haven’t done many light-hearted posts yet, but I promise there will be some more on the way. If you don’t want to cry, try the “Light-Hearted” or “Poetry” category from the menu at the top.

Next, there are a few posts going under the radar I think need a bit more love.

The Bird and the Birdwatcher is really important. It’s a fable I wrote and it is really close to my heart. It started as a vision of an image of this bird breaking out of a cage after a comment a friend made to me. It shows how anyone can be trapped by an abusive person but it doesn’t have to be the end. When you take the hidden meanings out of it, it’s just a really good story. It’s something I’ve read to my kids and will continue to do so until they get the message, because even though they’re boys, therefore less likely to be subjected to Domestic Violence relationships, grooming of children is a pretty big and scary issue these days. This story, I believe, could save lives. It’s about a 20 minute read but worth every second. Read it, share it, spread it around.

Finally He Claimed Me is about my relationship with my dad, a narcissist, who was absent most of my life. When I met him he continued to let me down. Then one day the penny dropped, and I realised something very important. Apart from being a pretty good read on its own, if you have ever been on the receiving end of verbal abuse by someone who was supposed to care for you, like a parent, this might help.

I Thought I Said “No” is, I know, a difficult one. It is about rape, but no violence or uncomfortable language (in my opinion). Just the other day I saw yet another reminder of just how much people blame rape victims these days. This is such a problem. I could talk about so many parts of this subject but for now this is all that’s up there and I really hope people read it and understand so we can stop telling the world “She’s just lying because that’s the kind of thing women do” and other ridiculous things like that. Not to mention, this event is referenced a lot in my stories as it was a major turning-point in my life.

Karmic Heebie-Jeebies is a funny story, to which parents will be able to relate. Contains creepy-crawlies.

Dear Sarah is the newest, but also important. It’s a letter to my late sister. It was really hard to write. I don’t talk about her much in relation to me and how I feel about her passing. I usually talk about her kids, their dad, my mom… everyone really, but not me. So I wrote this last night and my eyes look like I was punched in the face, they’re still so puffy. I won’t say much more about it, but please, seek out your loved ones and give them a hug. You’ll want to anyway after you read this.

Project: Better Than This has hardly been viewed at all. Maybe because it’s a page and not a post. This needs participants. Go read the page and see if you’d like to contribute. You could find yourself on this blog.

I may recommend some more in the future, but this is what’s important to me today.

Also, if you have a blog, don’t forget to add it to the Let’s network post and reblog it. There’s a lot of good blogs on there already, I encourage you to have a look.

And thank you, thank you, and thanks some more for all your wonderful comments and for just visiting my blog. To have such a great response so quickly from all the things I’ve let roll around in my head and keep me up at night for so long, your time spent meandering around my ramblings is actually making a physical difference in my life. Your interaction keeps me writing and ultimately, I hope, my writing will make a physical difference in the world. And that’s what it’s all about, healing, mending, changing.

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If nothing else, my words made 14,000 people stop to think about mental health and maybe other things, too. I am so humbled at what amazing things can happen when you just start doing The Thing instead of waiting for someone to come along and give you permission.
I submitted “A Letter of Regret” (an absolutely true letter of my feelings from my personal experience) to HelloGiggles over a month ago. They didn’t get back to me. So I made my blog (like I told them I would) and posted it myself. It was then shared by Facebook pages such as Blurt and Time for Change. Huge thanks to them for getting this message out where it’s meaning something to so many. I’m glad things happened that way (and I’m still a fan of HelloGiggles).

Keep positive thoughts that it will culminate in a publisher for me for either my children’s book or my story of my life, so maybe I’ll one day have enough money to visit home and see my niece and nephew. I miss them so much, as I do all my friends and family. I’ve been here in the UK for five years with no means to go back for even a visit.
Thank you to everyone who has read, commented, shared and liked, for you are the ones who have shown me my voice and my words can truly make a difference.

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This blog has been created with humanity in mind. That sounds obvious, but let me clarify.

There are many dialogues I, the writer of this blog, feel need to take place. This is a world of extreme complexity with many struggles faced by a wide variety of people. I plan to talk about random things as they pop into my head.

My background is not one of an Ivy League PhD or anything like that. I have simply been a mother for the past eleven and a half years, an immigrant to Great Britain from America for the past five years. (Please note my spellings may switch between GB and US.) I am just a regular human with something to say.

Like everyone I have a unique outlook and perspective on many different subjects. With the utmost respect I plan to offer my point of view, for what it’s worth. Some of these issues will be uncomfortable and tragic. Some light-hearted and humorous. Some a combination of both, because sometimes humour is the only way to face things without losing it completely. Some posts will be a dialogue on the world as I see it, whatever happens to light a fire in my fingers.

If you would like to enter into the dialogue, please, for the love of all that is good, keep your speech as respectful as you would like speech to be directed to yourself. I am not fond of the cowardice bullying behind the Internet façade which is so rampant today. It’s ridiculous and will not be tolerated.

Thank you very much for your support in whatever form that may take. If you are like me, just plodding along doing your best trying to implant some good in this world, you’ll know it’s appreciated sincerely.

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Thank You

Dear Reader,
Your support with every click, like, share, and comment is immensely appreciated.
This blog is to help lift up all humans, one word at a time. Thank you for your kind words and encouragement, and I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
-Talkingthisandthat

About the Author

Kirsten is a late-twenties writer passionate about the way humans interact with the world and with one another. She was the 2006 A.C.E. Award national winner through the National Exchange Club of America. She loves things like bright colours, artwork, and yarn, but hates lipstick.